Here's how I tweeked my tetratech. It wasn't very complicated, but it has improved the tank over 200% in water movement and reduced it in surface agitation.

Positioned in the top left:

(pay no attention to the wild star grass, did some serious trimming last night)

Closer view. Note the ring attachment. Without it, the outflows are barely below the surface:

I pulled out the siphon tide thing that comes with the filter on the right side of the photo.

I shut off the middle outflow by positioning the dial all the way to the left. This stops the filter from blowing everything beneath it all over the place.

Front view of the filter. Usually the outflow on the left of the picture is plush against the top. The 1.5" addition has made a world of difference.

Top view of the filter postioned on the back of the tank:

Told ya I trimmed the star grass!! :P

Anybody want some There are about 50 stems in there!!

Anyway,

Tweeking the tetratech filter has (so far) kept bga out of my tank. I had the same problems that most people have with it- just creates too much surface agitation. Now, my surface agitation is miniscule and my underwater movement is ideal. My star grass waves in the water flow. It's a very lively planted tank.

If I had more money, I would go cannister, but for now, I'm getting by very well with the tetratech. I used to hate it, but I love it now that I messed with it. This model also is a great size for this tank. Lots of filtration.

A couple people have inquired about the star grass. I'll have to wait till over the weekend to see how it does. It's in my 38g tank right now that has low light, but has warm water, so it should be fine over the weekend. I'm actually auctioning some of it off at my aquarium society meeting in Boston this Monday at the New England Aquarium. Anybody local, feel free to come to the meeting and make a small bid.

I'll let people know that are interested how much I've got to send after that. In all honesty, I'd love to send the plant off to everybody, there's just the main issue of time, which I'm usually pressed for. So if I'm going to ship something, it's gotta be on one day, and it's gonna take initiative :P

I'll update people that are interested over the weekend if I'll be able to get around to sending the plants off out of state.

A couple people have inquired about the star grass. I'll have to wait till over the weekend to see how it does. It's in my 38g tank right now that has low light, but has warm water, so it should be fine over the weekend. I'm actually auctioning some of it off at my aquarium society meeting in Boston this Monday at the New England Aquarium. Anybody local, feel free to come to the meeting and make a small bid.

I'll let people know that are interested how much I've got to send after that. In all honesty, I'd love to send the plant off to everybody, there's just the main issue of time, which I'm usually pressed for. So if I'm going to ship something, it's gotta be on one day, and it's gonna take initiative :P

I'll update people that are interested over the weekend if I'll be able to get around to sending the plants off out of state.

Interesting mod you did FG. If you wanted you could paint the rings black to make them less noticeable. Also a black background would hide your filter tubes better but you probably like the blue you have now.

That's a very unique aquascape you have there. I really like the overgrown stargrass in the first pic, although it was starting to crowd the other plants.

Sorry, but that one's been m'baby in there. It's one of the most interesting plants that I have. It grows slow, but not as slow as alternanthera r. I'm waiting for that one to fill in more. It's really cool though. Thank you, but I got to say nope

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